Hi all
Despite it being winter here, KZN branch has been busy.
Two weeks ago, Jenny Norman and I went to stay for a weekend with Kevin and Stella Cockburn in Greytown, along with Lizelle and Brian Plowes and the budding 4th generation Plowes lepidopterist, Matthew. He has already developed a good butterflyer's grin and a taste for gripe water
We held a plotting and scheming session; I was able to copy the SABCA coverage map off the site as a jpeg and paste it onto Google Earth - so we could see where the gaps are. This is because most of the spatial data is now in the database, and shows up on the coverage map - but Silvia is keeping us in suspense with the shapefiles until every last datum is in place! We of course were impatient and wanted to get started. The jpeg was a bit fuzzy when pasted over Google Earth but it had perfect register and followed the quarter-degree square grid you can make in Google Earth perfectly. It even drapes itself over 3-D relief when viewed sideways on. The Google guys deserve the Nobel Prize for extreme cleverness for this!
On the Sunday we had a lateish start (the red wine took its toll...) but eventually got off to Mhlopeni where Joy and Richard Alcock were our hosts, and we joined Kevin's Ezemvelo Honorary Officer mates. This is a beauteous place; an experiment in bush rehab with the goal being the re-establishment of the park-like forest mosaic that covered the Tugela/Mooi River valley before man arrived with his cattle and goats. This is what it looks like:
There are places you can stand and not see any structural evidence of man as far as you can see, 360
o. But as Joy explained, it will take years to get the bush back to its pristine state. The couple plan to run Wilderness Leadership courses here with our old friend Clive Walker, so I hope we'll see more of them.
We did find some butterflies, such as this Dwarf Blue
Oraidium barberae:
And a female Tailed Black-eye
Leptomyrina hirundo:
This female Banded Gold Tip
Colotis eris led me a merry dance and I was only able to get one, non-optimal shot:
We had a really nice bush braai down by the river; Kevin has this 'thing' for Charaxes butterflies like this Green-veined
C.candiope - they cannot resist his nose...
There was a lot of Hairy Mistletoe
Erianthemum dregei around, as a result Straight-line Sapphire
Iolaus silarus was common; the adults were nectaring on Poinsettia in the Alcocks' garden, too high for photography; but we did get an egg and some larvae for photography:
And both the local species of Dotted Border were around - Common
Mylothris agathina and Twin
M.ruepellii haemus. Not sure which one these eggs and larvae represent -
Looking forward to finding out, and photographing the spectacular pupae.
We also found this mystery
Anthene. As it was a female it could be Mashuna Hairtail
A.contrastata mashunae, Talbot's
A.talboti, or Otacilia
A.otacilia.
Then last weekend, new member Jeremy Townsend came on a nature walk to Ilanda Wilds in Amanzimtoti, led by Mike Purves. He's taking a real interest in this area, which really needs a conservancy and some TLC. The riverine bush shows real promise. Two butterflies seen were this Ant-heap Small White Dixeia pigea:
And this Forest Elfin
Sarangesa motozi:
Jeremy had with him the first pair I've ever seen of Pentax Papilio binoculars. These are simply stunning and I want a pair!
www.optics4birding.com/pentax-papilio-binoculars-review.aspx
I hope Jenny's going to send me some more pix from the Mhlopeni weekend, so I can post some more of the social side. I just hope she didn't catch me napping again...
All the best
Steve
